ONTARIO: The year in review, 2011

The year-long effort to improve traffic at LA/Ontario International Airport concluded Dec. 15 when city officials rejected Los Angeles World Airports' consideration of shutting down one terminal to save money.

Throughout the year, Ontario officials criticized the agency - which operates ONT and Los Angeles International Airport - for failing to produce a solution to reducing costs at the local airport.

Ontario officials have lobbied for local control, claiming they would be able to convert the medium-hub facility into a competitive regional airport.

Shutting down one terminal could help the facility, since costs for terminal maintenance and operating two sets of baggage handling systems are becoming burdensome as fewer flights and travelers pass through the airport, LAWA officials said.

An updated economic analysis by the firm Oliver Wyman has found the decline in air service at ONT between 2007 and 2011 has meant a $495 million economic hit to the Inland Empire. The decline at ONT in the last four years has also meant a loss of 9,250 jobs to the region. Passenger traffic has declined in recent years by nearly 30 percent at ONT while LAX has gotten busier.

Among the other top stories in 2011 in Ontario:

There was no shortage of cameras on Nov. 1 as staff members at the $550 million Kaiser Permanente Hospital documented its official opening in Ontario. The 386,000-square-foot hospital at 2295 S. Vineyard Ave. has a 36-bed emergency room and two patient towers, which includes diagnostic and treatment areas as well as private patient rooms.

An attached three-story medical office building on the west side of the hospital has been open since June and provides specialty services. The building houses several departments, including cardiology, nephrology, OB/GYN, orthopedics and urology. The opening marked the return of a full-service hospital in the city for the first time since 1994 when Ontario Community Hospital became a long-term care facility.

Teamsters workers ratified a contract to remain at BMW's parts-distribution center for nearly a decade, the union and BMW Group announced Oct. 31. The deal resolved a dispute that began in June between the automaker and the union when BMW told Teamsters representatives that the company would not renew its contract with the union. Instead, BMW Group planned to bring in another company to manage the distribution center and hire new workers, presumably at lower wages.

BMW Group will continue to hand off management duties to another company, but the new pact calls for current warehouse employees to remain at their jobs.

Under the new agreement, Teamsters members accepted lower base wages and other concessions in exchange for job security. The distribution center employs 64 warehouse workers. The pact will allow for as many as 70 to work there starting Jan. 1.

After a lengthy legal battle with a group of residents, the city and Walmart was cleared in August by a San Bernardino County judge to proceed with the development of a supercenter in the northwest section of this city. Until then, a lawsuit and a series of appeals have stopped the discount chain from moving forward on the highly contentious project on Mountain Avenue. The City Council agreed in June to change the delivery route of trucks, which was the only issue the courts had with the project. Following that vote, the city sent the revised project for the judge's approval.

Walmart and city officials have been entangled in the legal battle with the Ontario Mountain Village Association since the council approved the supercenter in 2007.

In a span of 19 months, City Hall added 3,000 square feet - to a facility now totaling 55,000 square feet - and has added a new city clerk's area, new elevator and lobby. At a rededication ceremony in July, city staff and the public got their first glance at the improvements made to the 30-year-old building.

When it was first built 30 years ago, the most the building was capable of handling was cable wiring. Now the building has Wi-Fi capabilities and will allow staff to move around and work in the building a little more seamlessly. Energy-efficient lighting and fixtures in the building that reduce energy needs by 12.5 percent from traditional lighting are projected to produce $33,000 a year in savings.